


Reenactment

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Ben Solo is Not Nice, Ben Solo is a Mess, Canon Compliant, Creepy Snoke (Star Wars), Dark, Gen, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Minor Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Originally Posted on deviantART, Past Child Abuse, Torture, Victim Blaming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:20:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25078258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Ben uses his telepathic abilities for interrogation for the first time.
Kudos: 2
Collections: The Darkpilot Library





	Reenactment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rens_Knight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rens_Knight/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

“We’ve been keeping him,” said the Republic officer. A clean-shaven man in a uniform that was definitely a step up from what Ben had seen in the Old Republic holovids, he led Ben, Poe and Luke to the interrogation room. A single Force Cage, with a human male in it. “Name’s Sukar Meers. Age seventeen. Not one of those poor kids they kidnapped; son of a schutta volunteered. Bragged about what he did too...”  
  
“Charming,” Ben muttered wryly. He wasn’t going to deny that it already unsettled him though; after all, a seventeen year old being a willing terrorist with the First Order? He wasn’t even old enough to join the Republic fleet.   
  
(He thought of Poe, how he’d joined the Spice Runners...but Poe wasn’t anything like that. Sukar was a monster. A murderer. Poe was a kind, caring being with a smile like a sun...and even at nineteen, Ben knew he’d do anything for Poe to smile like that more)  
  
Poe spoke up. “Maybe he’s a lost kid?”  
  
The Republic officer snorted. “It wasn’t like he was stolen from his home. Save your pity for the stormtroopers.”  
  
Sukar was there, and Ben was struck by the fact he was a Twi’lek. Had this First Order gotten more accepting than the notoriously speciesist Empire?  
  
Poe spoke up. “Hey, kid,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”  
  
“Not yet,” said the officer. Then, “It’s been urgent, so we’ve been using whatever techniques we can on him to make him...compliant.”  
  
“He’s a child!” Poe shouted.  
  
The officer rolled his eyes. “You think kids can’t be right little terrors too?”  
  
Ben spoke up. “Surely there’s another way? Something that’s not...violent?”  
  
//Good, Ben,// the Voice crooned. //You’re using your abilities as they were meant to be.//  
  
Ben went rigid.   
  
The Voice continued. //There’s a certain modification of the Jedi mind trick that may assist you in your endeavors...//  
  
The Republic officer was talking about the stakes. A list of victims, a hitlist...Ben could barely hear him over the fact that the Voice was talking about how he could save these people without a drop of blood being spilled. And it wouldn’t be painful. It wouldn’t be like injecting truth serum, which would kill him at too high a dose. It wouldn’t be like shocking him or slicing him...  
  
“I can do it,” Ben said. “There’s a modification of the Jedi mind trick...I guess I just need to persuade him to tell us everything.”  
  
“At this point,” said the Officer, “I’ll try anything.”  
  
“As long as it’s ‘just’ a mind trick,” Poe said grimly.   
  
Luke nodded. He looked suspicious — brow furrowed, lips pursed.   
  
//Just reach out. Put the weight of the Force into it...//  
  
Ben didn’t expect the prisoner to start begging for him to stop, sounding honest to stars terrified, or the memories that bombarded him. Awful memories too, Ben thought. Childhood beatings. Sexual abuse. No wonder he joined the First Order; it was the closest thing he had to someone who, at minimum, wouldn’t beat or rape him.  
  
The prisoner blurted out the names. “Just don’t hurt me, Mom!” he said. “Please...”  
  
Ben drew away like he’d been burned.   
  
“You saved some lives,” said the Officer. “It wasn’t pretty but...you saved them. Well done, kid.”  
  
He walked off.   
  
Ben turned around, watched Uncle Luke’s face. Some sort of shadow passed over it, some sort of agony — like he was seeing a ghost. And Poe — he shouldn’t be looking at him like he had seen his friend turn into a monster without warning.   
  
That slack jaw, that look in his eyes like he couldn’t recognize Ben...  
  
Ben could swear that he felt like an airlock had opened in his stomach. “I — I was trying to do my job...”  
  
"I say you did a good job,” said the Republic officer. “We got what we needed. You might have saved lives, Jedi Solo.”  
  
Somehow, Ben doubted he was less worthy to be called a Jedi in his entire life.   
  
***  
  
“It wasn’t like I wanted to hurt the...the prisoner,” Ben said. Even as they headed towards the Grimtaash, he felt, somehow, like his imaginary friend had betrayed him. A beloved pet biting you out of nowhere, a friend turning on you. And his hand, his telepathic abilities — the first time he’d used them to actually destroy someone...  
  
“Intent doesn’t really matter, Ben,” Luke said. "Who taught you that technique?”  
  
Ben paused. Then, “I never saw his face.”  
  
“So basically you thought,” Luke said evenly, “You’d try out a technique that you had no idea about from someone whose identity you didn’t even know? Is your brain rotten, Ben?”  
  
“I’d never tried it before now!” Ben retorted. “He just gave me instructions; he didn’t tell me...”  
  
For a moment, he remembered one of the flashes from the prisoner’s mind. How he looked — with his hand outstretched and his face set, he most likely looked a monster.   
  
Poe, meanwhile, looked more uncertain. Wavering between terror of Ben and terror of him. (Kriff, Ben doubted he could live with himself if Poe was scared of him...)  
  
“So he just gave you directions,” Luke said. He seemed to be trying to process it. Seemed to be. “How long has he been doing this?”  
  
"Since...since as long as I can remember.” Then, “But I didn’t think he’d actually steer me wrong...”  
  
“Did he tell you his name?”  
  
Had he? Now, Ben thought, he didn’t know if he could remember it. It was like a blank, empty spot, a black hole in his memory where answers should be.   
  
“I don’t...remember.”  
  
Poe still seemed to be wavering. Ben knew he couldn’t blame him.   
  
Luke sighed. “Ben...I’ll think about what your payment should be, if any. What you did was a violation of the Force never meant to be used. But you were misled as well. I must...meditate on this. BB-8 can set a course back.”  
  
***  
  
“Poe?”  
  
Poe was still ignoring Ben. Ben, tentatively, stepped towards him. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”  
  
“I’m not the one you need to apologize to,” Poe said flatly. He turned to look at Ben. “Kriff, Ben, you scared me. There was screaming,” and here Poe sounded more earnest, more worried, “And you just kept going, and you were like a stranger to me, all this time.”  
  
“I don’t want to be. I thought I was saving lives...”  
  
“You’re so much better than this. Not just because you’re a Jedi.” Poe said. “Sometimes, Ben...sometimes I’m worried that the more I run to you, the more you slip away.”  
  
“I won’t,” Ben insisted. “You won’t lose me. I’d never do anything to hurt you, Poe.”  
  
“Then run to me. Run to Tai, run to anyone. Just...don’t slip away.”  
  
Ben hoped, even as he sat in Poe’s room, on his bed, that he could keep that promise.


End file.
